Parnitha now
In a dramatic turn of events, the Minister of Public Order Byron Polydoros announced over the weekend that the fault of the forest fire was a direct result of the forest being there and that it was growing wild, too closely together and it was too green.
Well i for one am glad that its been solved - pesky forests - growing as they please!
Though perhaps, if we give him the benefit of the doubt, what he might have wanted to say is that there was no Forest Management system in place. Well at least i hope so.
The President of Greece said that it was a day of mourning, he asked the nation to consider what legacy will be left to our children if we continue to disregard nature. The Prime Minister in turn promised that Parnitha and all the areas struck by fires will be re-forested and he emphasised "I say it and i mean it" which makes me wonder about the other things he said...
Cynicism blooms as promises are made
A pro-government newspaper Eleutheri Ora had as its headline today 'Parnitha re-forested with
apartment blocks and maissonetes. ' The reason for this cynicism is because its an Election year.
What's this got to do with anything i hear you ask. Well unfortunately elections in Greece are a time when general amnesty's are given.
For example, to help pedestrians - cars parked on footpaths were fined in Athens. When Dora Bakoyianni became Mayor of Athens, the first thing she did was to give a reprieve to all those who had been fined - end result - everyone parks where they want, don't pay the fine and wait for the next reprieve.
The same goes for illegal houses/bars etc. A famous cartoonist (Kyr) showed a house being built on the Acropolis with the caption "No worries, some politician will come along and make it legal"
In another example of blatant transgression of the laws, Greek Media Magnate Kyriakou apparently extended the training ground of his team onto the grounds of a large park in Athens. Opposition media SKAI tv together with the local pensioners association and Boy Scout troup organised a re-planting on Public Property. Angered by this, Kyriakou called in the police who wielded their truncheons on kids and eldery who were planting trees on public property.
But enough cynicism, lets hope for the best.
Meanwhile concern has also been raised over the plight of the last remaining red deer of Greece. People's reaction to this was"What, we still have deer in Greece!?!?"
Well apparently we do. Again we hope that something gets done.
1 comment:
This has left me truly dumbfounded. I cannot believe, still. Wilderness is truly in a sad state when people don't even know that deer still live in most countries, including Greece, regardless of how many there are. And the forests are not to be blamed for anything that happens; if anyone's, the fault is ours as humans living on an earth that we are supposed to protect. It has protected us for centuries and allowed us to reach our current state of grandeur. But that grandeur won't be here much longer if we continue to act in the way we do.
I can only hope that people begin to see all the harm and pain we are causing the earth and its creatures because in time we shall be the ones feeling all that harm and pain.
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